In 2025, fire departments serving Gautier responded to 88 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
515 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 103 | — | |
| 2022* | 41 | — | |
| 2023 | 159 | — | |
| 2024 | 124 | -22.0% | |
| 2025 | 88 | -29.0% |
* Well below Gautier's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 6 building fires Gautier departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 157 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 69 | 43.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 31 | 19.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 12.1% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Gautier mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 109 | 69.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 5.7% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 8 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 0.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gautier departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $12,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gautier sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 41,973 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,394 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 4,248 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,000 | 38.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 2,100 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,824 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,698 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,600 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 1,594 | 31.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,500 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,485 | 41.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,400 | 16.1 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Mississippi cities with population within ±25% of Gautier. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.